Wild players finally get to see ‘The Hat,’ and hope there are more victories so it gets passed around

The Wild had to wait for their losing streak to end to resurrect their ritual of recognizing a player of the game post-victory, but that wasn’t the only holdup.

After the players took their time to choose a symbol for the season, the new award was on back order and then stayed at Zach Bogosian’s house while the defenseman was hurt and not coming to the rink.

Finally, after Saturday’s victory over Vancouver that ended the Wild’s five-game slide, “The Hat” made its debut.

Better late than never.

“It was karma for not having it ready,” center Ryan Hartman said.

A hat made of redwood is the Wild’s latest postgame prize, following the chain, Viking helmet and whitewater rafting gear passed around in recent seasons. The inspiration came from a preseason quote shared by President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin.

“[A redwood tree] is really, really tall, but its roots are only five to six feet long,” alternate captain Marcus Foligno explained. “So, it grabs onto other trees around it. His message behind it was to depend on one another, to come together as a team [and] to lean on each other to hopefully get to the top.”

Defenseman Jonas Brodin, who had a goal and assist against the Canucks while also blocking a game-high four shots in almost 24 minutes of ice time during the 5-2 victory, was the first recipient.

“It doesn’t have to be the guy who scores goals,” said Foligno, who described the hat as having an “Indiana Jones” vibe. “It can be something that happens in the game, [a] blocked shot or big hit, fight, things like that. It just kind of boosts the morale of the group and something that we can all relate to and have fun with.

“That’s the thing you want. Tight teams always have something, a slogan or something that they kind of gather around, and hopefully the redwood tree hat is something we can get around this year.”

Even though the hat is now in play, the Wild aren’t out of the woods.

Their victory was their first during a season-long six-game homestand at Grand Casino Arena that concludes Tuesday vs. Nashville. At 4-6-3, the Wild are still chasing most of the NHL. But they couldn’t start catching up unless they slammed the brakes on their skid.

Nearly a month into the season, the parity in the NHL is notable, and the Wild have experienced it firsthand: Four of their past five losses were to top-10 teams in New Jersey, Utah, Winnipeg and Pittsburgh. Two of those clubs, the Mammoth and Penguins, are early surprises since neither made the playoffs last season; San Jose was another tough test despite the Sharks’ ongoing rebuild.

“We all knew coming into the season that it was going to be a really, really competitive conference,” coach John Hynes said, “not just the division, but the Western Conference.”

Still, the Wild have had their work cut out for them when it comes to the Central Division, where they finished fourth a season ago and advanced to the playoffs as a wild card.

They are 1-2-1 in division play so far, with that lone victory coming on Opening Night at St. Louis. Their matchups against Colorado, Dallas and Winnipeg have been particularly lopsided — the Wild are 4-17-3 vs. that trio since the start of 2023-24 — and the importance of these rivalry games isn’t lost on the team.